


Eyes Wide Open

by vaelice



Category: Fresh Meat (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 20:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14776817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaelice/pseuds/vaelice
Summary: “Your eyes? They were, uh… open?”JP lifted himself from the bed to sit at eye-level, his stare hard. “It is a medical condition.”





	Eyes Wide Open

**Author's Note:**

> Un-beta'd and my first piece of work for this fandom! Hope you enjoy!

He sleeps with his eyes open.

Josie hadn’t noticed it the first time they’d slept together. When she’d blinked open her eyes to peer at the back of JP’s head, the first time she’d ever found him residing in her bed, she’d never had the chance to glance at his eyes. When he’d shifted, clearly restlessly awakening from his slumber, the subtle blue of his gaze was the last thing on her mind. After all, she’d never really been one for one-night-stands. Particularly when she had a boyfriend to worry about.

She would later learn that that didn’t seem to be an overall concern for her surprisingly high libido. (Kingsley never knew what hit him.)

She also hadn’t noticed it when they slept together the second time. To be fair to herself, she could barely even make out the colour of his hair, between the blinding fluorescent lights of the club and the intoxicated haze she had settled into. She had set out on a mission to find and bed Kingsley that night – though it was highly unlikely she would have been able to recognise his features even if she did magically stumble upon him (which, as it turns out, was near impossible, him not being in the vicinity and all). She was honestly surprised she chose JP, instead of some other greasy bastard that wanted to grind up against her. Not that JP wasn’t all those things.

Now that she’d thought about it, she hadn’t even noticed it the third time. She barely even remembered being with him the third time. Alcohol really was a bitch.

Josie had noticed it the eighth time, though. In fact, it had come as quite a rude surprise, when she’d flipped over in his arms, to stare straight into the eyes of what seemed to be a very awake young man. A squeak of surprise left her lips (as one would expect), though as she lay very still, she began to realise that (unless JP had begun a very strange game of who can keep their eyes open the longest) he wasn’t entirely responsive.

 _Oh my god,_ Josie thought. _JP’s dead_. Regrettably, she didn’t feel quite as disappointed as one would have hoped.

A brash snore erupted from JP’s open mouth, and the thought was dashed. A semblance of relief settled on Josie’s chest. That was good, she supposed.

“Um, JP?” She whispered, nudging his shoulder with one duvet-wrapped hand. The chill of Britain in late Autumn was something to fear. Alas, there was no response other than another snore, louder. She winced. What on earth could this man be doing, snoring in his bed with two eyes very much open?

“JP.” She repeated, louder this time, nudging him with more emphasis. More of a response this time – he shifted back and forth, smacking his lips, and finally pulled an arm out from under the blankets to press her back in further towards him, until her head was tucked under his chin. If she were to be completely honest, the position she was in was one of the most comfortable, warm and safe she had felt in a very, very long time. (Not to smack-talk her previous boyfriend, but there was absolutely no way his bony limbs could cradle her the way this asshole’s could).

Nonetheless, she soldiered on. Pressing her lips together and frowning, she did what only the spawn of Satan would ever attempt – she pressed her icy bare feet onto the leg of JP. If her whispering his name was a tear, then JP created a ruckus to rival the Black Sea.

“What the bloody hell of fuck!” He roared, ripping himself away from her and curling his legs up and in. His eyes were as wide as she’d ever seen them (aside from the time he suggested they all have an orgy), and his pupils had dilated so much that his iris looked to be only a shadow of blue around it. He looked the very picture of betrayal and horror.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing? With icicles for feet, nonetheless?!” His accent was particularly pompous this fine morning, and as he pressed himself closer to the warm cocoon of the blankets, Josie couldn’t help but laugh. And laugh. And laugh.

“Why are you laughing at me?” JP’s confused tone mumbled from the depths of the blankets, only his narrowed gaze and spiky hair peeking out from the top of the duvet. She couldn’t help but notice that, though she had just betrayed his very trust that they would both fight off the coming winter as a team that morning, he had still snaked a very warm hand around her middle. She decided to unpack that move later.

“I’m sorry, JP,” Josie said between chuckles, her voice truthfully wrapped in pity. “You seemed a little dead.”

“Dead?” JP repeated, lifting his head to stare incredulously at her, ruffled hair and all. “Dead? Have you never heard of sleeping, Josie?”

She shook her head. “To be fair, I’m not entirely sure what you were doing.” She huffed another laugh, earning another glare from the man beside her. “Your eyes? They were, uh… open?”

JP lifted himself from the bed to sit at eye level, his stare hard. “It is a _medical condition_.” He growled, though his tone was amused. Josie continued to stare at him. Surely, whatever it was that he was doing couldn’t be excused as something _without_ a medical condition.

“I sleep with my eyes open,” He explained to her blank expression, earning a surprised ‘oh’ from his bed partner. Now that would explain it.

“People actually do that?” Josie wondered aloud, allowing JP to flop onto his back and press her against his side. “Like, I’ve read about it and everything, but you actually sleep like that? I thought that only happened to fictional people.”

A chuckle escaped from an amused JP. “No, love, it’s a real thing. Freaks a few people out – glad to know the girl I’m sleeping with is a part of that population.” His humour was dry.

Josie’s heart skipped a beat. ‘ _The girl I’m sleeping with._ ’ The girl he was sleeping with? If it were anyone else, she would feel a little… insulted. Five times over three years didn’t nearly consist as enough to be considered a ‘fling’. She was barely even a hobby. She was…. a marathon that you spent more time training for than doing. But with JP, a warmth settled in her chest. The girl he was sleeping with… she supposed she was, with a player like him.

And if she were to be completely honest with herself, and perhaps with him, she was sort of happy that she was. It felt… nice. Sometimes, shitting where she ate had a sense of homeliness to it. “It seems I am.” She murmured, settling her head in the dip where his collar met his neck. She felt his muscles pull into a smile, his lips press against her temple, then darkness as sleep overtook her once more.


End file.
